{"id":6333,"date":"2015-07-16T07:09:51","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T14:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/Simcenter-Blog\/How-to-save-time-and-money-using-the-Femap-API\/ba-p\/307091"},"modified":"2026-03-26T05:49:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T09:49:26","slug":"how-to-save-time-and-money-using-the-femap-api","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/how-to-save-time-and-money-using-the-femap-api\/","title":{"rendered":"How to save time and money using the Femap API"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><P>During the Femap Symposium Washington DC, I met John Hering, Applied Physics Group Manager at <a href=\"http:\/\/cardinalengineeringllc.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Cardinal Engineering<\/A>.&nbsp; In the video below, John explains how Cardinal developed a winning proposal and delivered tremendous value to a shipbuilding customer by automating analysis tasks with the Femap Application Programming Interface, or API.&nbsp; (By the way, that&#8217;s the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Space_Shuttle_Discovery\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Space Shuttle <EM>Discovery<\/EM><\/A> in the background.&nbsp; We shot this video in the Space Hanger at the Smithsonian&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/airandspace.si.edu\/visit\/udvar-hazy-center\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Udvar-Hazy Center.<\/A> I interviewed Mark Sherman at the same venue in an earlier <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/Femap-Blog\/Mark-Sherman-on-Femap-11-2-and-analysis-studies\/ba-p\/297984\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">post<\/A>.)<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-left video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embedly-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FsH4lCJIjf4c%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsH4lCJIjf4c&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FsH4lCJIjf4c%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;key=fad07bfa4bd747d3bdea27e17b533c0e&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" title=\"Video\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>Dr. Chris Mairs, Principal Engineer at Cardinal, presented more details in his presentation, <a href=\"https:\/\/community.plm.automation.siemens.com\/siemensplm\/attachments\/siemensplm\/Femap-tkb\/66\/1\/2_PostprocessingUsingAPI_Mairs_Cardinal.pdf\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Automated Finite Element Modeling and Post Processing of Ship Piping and Foundations Using Femap API<\/A><\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>Chris explained how Cardinal developed a set of Femap API programs that enabled the project team to:<\/P><\/p>\n<p><UL><br \/>\n<LI>Analyze over one thousand unique shipboard pipe hanger foundation designs&nbsp;<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Streamline the process of developing finite element models and post-processing analysis results<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Reduce overall modeling and analysis time by roughly 80%<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Deliver all results within a six month period and within budget<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><\/p>\n<p><P>Here&#8217;s a partial list of the functions that Cardinal developed and made available in a custom Femap toolbar:<\/P><\/p>\n<p><UL><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Create mesh for pipe linear segments<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Create mesh for pipe bends and elbows<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Create nodal masses for pipe components using data from Excel<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Create midsurface geometry of pipe hangers and assign property attributes to midsurfaces<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Create RBE3 elements to connect mesh of square tubes to mesh for piping runs<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Create mesh representation for pipe U-bolts<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Create mesh representation for pipe clamps<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Determine max stresses from output sets for selected elements and send results to Excel<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Perform pull-through and tearout stress calculations and send results to Excel<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Perform bolt stress calculations and send results to Excel<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Create images of stress plots from output sets<\/P><br \/>\n<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><\/p>\n<p><P>Impressive work.&nbsp; And the best part of the story?&nbsp; The customer was so happy with the results that they hired Cardinal for additional projects.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>If you&#8217;d like to learn more about how to extend the power of Femap using the API, check out these video tutorials, narrated by Al Robertson and Mark Sherman:<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-center video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embedly-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FgcvErb52V4M%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DgcvErb52V4M&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FgcvErb52V4M%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;key=fad07bfa4bd747d3bdea27e17b533c0e&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" title=\"Video\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-center video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embedly-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FOOIQa64kKVM%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DOOIQa64kKVM&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FOOIQa64kKVM%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;key=b0d40caa4f094c68be7c29880b16f56e&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" title=\"Video\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>Interested in attending a Femap Symposium event?&nbsp; There&#8217;s only one left.&nbsp; Our final event will take place in Everett, Washington, with a special keynote speaker from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boeing.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Boeing<\/A>.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><UL><br \/>\n<LI><STRIKE>May 14 Houston, TX Saratech<\/STRIKE><\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><STRIKE>June 4 Ann Arbor, MI Maya<\/STRIKE><\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><STRIKE>June 11 Cypress, CA&nbsp; Saratech<\/STRIKE><\/LI><br \/>\n<LI><a href=\"http:\/\/appliedcax.com\/femap-symposium-2015-greater-seattle-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">September 23 Everett, WA&nbsp; Applied CAx<\/A><\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><\/p>\n<p><P>Hope to see you there.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><STRONG>About the Author:<\/STRONG> John Fox is Vice President of Marketing at Siemens PLM Software. You can follow him on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnhfox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/A>.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the Femap Symposium Washington DC, I met John Hering, Applied Physics Group Manager at Cardinal Engineering.&nbsp; In the video below, John explains how Cardinal developed a winning proposal a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61782,"featured_media":6334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-6333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/Cardinal_03_278x278-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6335,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6333\/revisions\/6335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6333"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=6333"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=6333"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}